Star Spangled and Tartarus Deep
by demifics
Summary: Annabeth Chase just wants to serve her country. But its the 1940s, and no one's accepting women into the army any time soon. Her best friend, Percy, recently enlisted. He told her not to do anything stupid. She didn't. She did something very smart. {the characters of the Percy Jackson universe in the Marvel universe. Annabeth as Captain America, Percy as Bucky Barnes.}
1. You Know Me

Hello! This will mostly be drabbles and little short things. I have no real plotline here, I just got an anon asking for a Percabeth Winter Soldier AU and it...got just a little out of hand. Whoops. Enjoy!

(c) Rick Riordan and Marvel

* * *

He couldn't get her voice out of his mind. He could still feel his fist meeting her face. His hair was still wet. His ears still ringing. From the explosion and with her words.

_"Your name is Perseus Allen* Jackson."_

He shuddered and clenched his fist tighter. She was just a mission. A mission he had failed.

_"You're my friend."_

_"You're my mission."_

He felt like he was falling— he'd done that before. He could see her falling.

Over and over and over again.

He saw her hit the water and sink. He saw himself staring up at her as she clung onto a train. A train? They had never fought on a train. There was no train. There were no mountains.

_"You know me."_

_"No. I don't!"_

He had been warned that she was smart. She was a genius.

She wanted to be an architect. She drew drawings of buildings. She tried to figure out how to make something permanent, something that would last longer than she did in that ice.

They never told him she wanted to be an architect.

He didn't know where the memory came from. Them sitting on a rusty old balcony, their feet dangling through the spaces in the bars. She drew on old pieces of paper with the stub of a pencil, he hummed to himself and watched the city life below.

_"You know me."_

He gritted his teeth and shoved the memory to the back of his mind.

He felt himself hit the water again. He felt himself grab hold to her and drag her to the surface. He hadn't even checked if she was still breathing.

_He dragged her out of another alley. "What are you doing, Annabeth?! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"_

_She wiped her lip, smearing blood across her cheek. "Don't be ridiculous, Percy. I had him on the ropes."_

_Percy raised an eyebrow._

_"I swear! If I can't fight for my country, at least let me fight for my gender. My rights." She crossed her arms and took a step towards the wall._

_"Annabeth—"_

_"Oh no, don't Annabeth me. That guy was harassing a teenager. She couldn't have been more than fourteen. He was overpowering her. What did you want me to do? Nothing?!"_

_Percy sighed. "I just— You weren't much bigger than him."_

_"I don't need to be bigger. I'm smarter. I'm faster. I—"_

_"Have no idea how to fight?" he offered, with the smallest smirk._

_She scowled. "Maybe I would if you would let me for fight myself more. Or if you taught me."_

_"I can't teach you anything more than you know. The only advantage I have to you is that I'm bigger and stronger. That's how you'll take down these guys. And if you come home with a black eye again, your dad is going to—"_

_"Who cares about what my dad thinks? That girl is alive and safe and he didn't get his way. That's what matters, Percy. Not my eye. Not my dad. Not my protection. Not some screwed up traditional gender roles. And that's exactly why I'm enlisting."_

_"You can't!"_

_She looked over at him with a look that he knew all too well. "Of course I can."_

He noticed his metal fingers were cutting into his skin. He saw red blood where he'd been digging his fingers in. Just like the blood on her face. On her stomach. Her leg. Smeared across her cheek from another fight in an alley. He had held ice to her lip as she grumbled about how she was fine. It seeped through her red, white, and blue uniform.

_"I'm not going to fight you."_

His hair was dry now. His ears were still ringing.

_"Then finish it."_

_He stopped. Captain America had stopped fighting? She'd given up? This wasn't right. There had to be something she was doing. Some strategy she was creating. Some tactic. She would never just—_

_"As long as we're together."_


	2. I'm Fine

It's 12:20 so I apologize if there are any mistakes.

* * *

_"I'm guessing you aren't keeping the outfit," Percy whispered, leaning towards Annabeth._

_She looked over him with a forced smile. "I'm going to take it, I'm going to burn it, and then I'm going to spread its ashes all over Europe."_

_She looked over at the poster with a glare. It took all her willpower not to march over there and tear it down._

The brunette stood in front of her and gave her a once over.

"So you're the great Captain America, huh?" she asked.

Annabeth nodded before letting her self look around the room. There were screens and holographic images everywhere.

A woman in one of the SHIELD uniforms walked over to them. "McLean, the Council has a mission for you."

McLean raised an eyebrow. "Do they?"

"Go, or they will personally throw you out."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say Agent Ramírez-Arellano." She nodded to Annabeth. "Nice to meet you Captain."

"Uh, you too," Annabeth muttered as McLean walked off. She turned to Agent Ramírez-Arellano. "What did she say your name was?"

"I'm Agent Reyna Ramírez-Arellano," she said, offering her hand, "but just call me Agent Ramírez. My father was never in the picture."

Annabeth shook her hand. "Right. Nice meeting you, Agent Ramírez. I'm A-"

"Annabeth Chase, also known as Captain America. Super soldier. Defeated the Red Skull, also known as Luke Castellan. Frozen in ice for about seventy years."

She lowered her arm. "Yeah. How did you-?"

"I was briefed."

"Briefed?"

"Annabeth Chase, you are, without a doubt, the greatest find that SHIELD has discovered in a long time."

She narrowed her eyes. "I'm sorry, did you 'find'?"

_Annabeth stared at the costume. She shook her head. "No. No way. There is absolutely no_ way _that I am putting that thing on my body."_

_Agent Dare held it up higher. "You wanted to help."_

_"I wanted to _fight_!" she protested. "This," she motioned to the costume, "it's...disgusting."_

_"It's certainly not the most modest costume, but-"_

_Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "You're going to try to argue that this is somehow okay?"_

_Agent Dare sighed and put the costume down. "No, I'm not. But the showgirls aren't dressed in much more than you, so..."_

_"So it's okay?"_

_She hesitated._

_"That's what I thought."_

_"It's not," Agent Dare admitted, "it really isn't appropriate, but it's what the Senator wanted."_

_Annabeth scowled. "Do I look like I care about what he wants?"_

_"Annabeth," Agent Dare said sternly._

_"Agent Dare," she shot back._

_"I already told you to call me Rachel."_

_"I already told you that I'm not wearing it!"_

_"Do you want to sell bonds?" Rachel asked. _

_"No! I want to be useful!"_

_"This is useful. It's how we're useful." Rachel held out the costume again. "Annabeth, you're already lucky that you were chosen for the program. And you're lucky that it worked. The only thing you can do now is go onstage and try to sell bonds."_

_"And why can't I do what you do?" Annabeth asked. "I'd rather do...whatever it is you do than dress up in the skimpiest costume to ever exist."_

_"Even I only do what I do because my parents are extremely rich and my father is extremely influential. He pulled many, many strings, and I had to promise that I'd 'look for a proper young gentleman to get married to and settle down with' while I'm out here." She shook the costume. "Please just take it."_

_Annabeth took it with a grimace. "Do I really have to?"_

_"Do you want to be useful?"_

Agent Ramírez crossed her arms. "Miss Chase, you were believed to be dead. We found you. You were a find."

Annabeth clenched her jaw. "Fine. What am I doing here?"

"This is SHIELD. That stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. We protect people from knowing things they aren't ready to acknowledge the existence of and when we can't do that, we keep them safe."

"And?"

She paused. "Miss Chase, you are something we're protecting people from."

Annabeth took a step back. The walls seemed to close in around her. She could feel the ice cold water seeping in. Her skin tingled. Everything was beginning to freeze again. She lost feeling in her fingers and toes. There was no light. The power had gone out. The radio was dead. She was-

"Miss Chase!"

Annabeth took a deep breath and found herself staring right at Agent Ramírez. She shook her hand from her shoulder. "I'm fine."

Agent Ramírez gave her a doubtful look.

_"I'm fine," Annabeth insisted, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, Percy."_

_"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize that getting shot in the arm was fine!"_

_She whacked him lightly on the shoulder. "Percy, we have bigger problems than one bullet. It didn't hurt."_

_He frowned. "You're not bulletproof."_

_"You think I don't know that?"_

_"Just be careful?" he asked. _

_"You're the one who needs to be careful," she reminded him. "You almost got shot in the head."_

_"But I didn't."_

_She rolled her eyes again and turned towards Rachel, who was sitting down at the bar next to them. _

_"How are you?" Rachel asked._

_"I'm fine," she said. She looked over at Percy. "_Fine_."_

_He grumbled something incoherent and took a long drink from his beer bottle. _

_"Clearly."_

_"Are you here to criticize my life choices too?" Annabeth asked, raising her glass to her lips. _

_Rachel shook her head. "No, of course not. I'm...here to tell a story. About you, Annabeth."_

_Annabeth lowered her glass. "Wait, w-"_

_"Did she ever tell you that she covered a grenade with her body?"_

_Percy's eyes bugged out of his head. "You did _what_?!"_

Annabeth scowled and sunk lower in the chair. "I said I was fine."

"Are you sure?" the doctor said. "Agent Ramírez said-"

"I know what she said!" she snapped. "Sorry, I just... Sorry. I just thought of something that happened...seventy years ago or something and I got lost in the memory."

He nodded slowly.

"Can I go now?" She started to stand.

"Your vitals are fine," he said with a sigh. "I'd like you to rest some more but-"

"I had seventy years of rest, doctor," she said, opening the door, "I think I'm good."

_"How could you be so stupid?!"_

_"It wasn't stupid. It was tactical."_

_"_How? _How is dying tactical?!"_

_"Think about this logically, Percy. My body would absorb the explosion and fragmentation. I'd save others who couldn't get out of the way. It was the smartest move with the least amount of injury."_

_"You would be dead!"_

_"Yes, I would be the only one. Less casualties, less wounded. Percy, at this point I'm just repeating myself."_

_"You aren't just some number on a piece of paper, Annabeth! You're a human being!"_

_"So are you. So is everyone in this room. So are the men I would've died protecting."_

_Rachel raised her eyebrows and took a calm sip from her drink._

_"You really aren't getting this, are you, Annabeth?"_

_"Percy, you're overreacting. I did it with the best intentions. They weren't going to choose me before I did it, so it wasn't like they were losing anyone they needed, were the Rachel?"_

_She looked up. "I-I believed that's classified." She looked away for a second before softly saying, "Dr. Chiron wanted you to be chosen, but Colonel Dionysus thought it was ridiculous. He was still upset about you being there. The Colonel said that you win wars with guts and threw a dummy grenade. You just helped Chiron's case by covering it."_

_Annabeth crossed her arms and stared at Percy. _

_He glared at her and downed his beer._

"You said you're protecting people from me," Annabeth said. She stood in front of Agent Ramírez and Agent McLean.

Agent Ramírez frowned. "Yes, we are."

"How am I threat?"

Agent Ramírez looked to Agent McLean.

"Don't look at me. You got yourself into the mess."

"And don't you have somewhere to be, McLean?"

Agent McLean smiled. "As a matter of fact, I don't. I don't leave until tomorrow."

"How am I a threat?" Annabeth repeated.

Agent Ramírez sighed. "Miss Chase, you have been 'dead' for seventy years. How do you think the public would react to seeing you walking around New York City? There would be panic. No one's anything about...this yet. All they know is what Leo Valdez has told them."

"Who?"

"You don't want to know," Agent McLean insisted.

"So," Annabeth said slowly, "I'm stuck here."

"Until further notice," Agent Ramírez finished. "When the Council says you can go, you can go. Until then, I'm sorry."

_Percy kept looking at Annabeth funny for the next week. _

_"Cut it out," she whispered to him as they walked to lunch one day._

_"What?" he asked._

_"You're looking at me like I have seven heads."_

_"You sacrificed yourself."_

_Annabeth sighed. "We're still on this?"_

_"Uh, yeah. We are. It's kind of a big deal."_

_"Okay, you know what? I'm sorry, Percy. I'm sorry that I was going to give my life so other people would live. I'm sorry I'm such a terrible person."_

_He looked away. "That's not the point, Annabeth."_

_"Then what is?"_

_He gave her a long look before turning around and disappearing down the hallway._

"Agent Piper McLean."

"Annabeth Chase." She shook her hand.

"I know. I've heard all about you."

"Have you been briefed too?"

Piper shook her head and smiled. "No, Agent Levesque just really looks up to you."

"Who?"

"Don't worry, you'll meet her soon enough. Can't believe she hasn't introduced herself yet."

"Oh."

"Hey," Piper sat down next to her on the bed. "I... I'm not good at...this stuff, but, uh... I know what it's like to be in a new place. I know what it's like being stuck here. It'll be fine."

Annabeth nodded.

Because it's always fine.


	3. Protector

_Percy adjusted his hat. He straightened his tie for the third time and smoothed his jacket for the fourth._  
He wasn't ready to go yet.  
He hid in the forest. He didn't want anyone to see him. He still had blood on him.  
He couldn't tell whose blood it was. Some of it was his, he had the wounds to prove it, but some of it had to be her's. His fist was stained with it.  
He wanted to die. And he didn't like the feeling.  
His entire existence was based on following orders and surviving. He killed who he was told to kill. He did what he needed to do.  
He wasn't a real human. He was a machine.  
They had told him that.  
_"Sergeant...32557...Jackson-"*_  
"Percy!"  
He opened his eyes slowly.  
Annabeth stared at him. "Oh my god." She undid the straps as fast as she could.  
Percy watched her, blinking slowly. He was hallucinating. Or dead. He mumbled something.  
She turned to him quickly. "It's me. It's Annabeth."  
"Annabeth." He smiled.  
"Come on," she said. She pulled him off the table.  
He held onto her arms to keep himself from falling.  
He tensed as he heard footsteps. He pushed himself off the ground and disappeared deeper in the forest.  
_"I thought you were dead."_  
_Percy stared at Annabeth. "I thought you were smaller."_  
_Annabeth's eyes latched onto a map. She studied it for a moment. "Come on." She draped his arm over her shoulder and practically dragged him out of the room._  
_"What happened to you?" he asked. He still couldn't tell if this was real or not. Annabeth couldn't be here._  
_"I joined the army."_  
He found himself wearing an old hoodie he had found on a park bench and a hat that had been left by a tree.  
His arm had begun to malfunction, and it was stuffed in the pocket of the hoodie. A few times, it would fall out and just dangle, and he had to shove it back in before someone noticed.  
He knew that he looked insane.  
He slept against a tree in a different part of the forest, farther away from civilization. He stole food from convience stores and drank from water fountains in the park. He felt like he had done this before.  
_"What are you doing?" Annabeth asked._  
_"Getting food," he said, staring at the store._  
_"You don't have any money, how are you-" She stopped. "Perseus Jackson, don't you dare tell me you're going to steal from Mrs. Dodds!"_  
_He scowled and looked back towards her. "Well what am I supposed to do? Let my mom starve?"_  
_"If you're going to steal, steal from anyone but the Furies. They're called that for a reason."_  
_"Yeah, yeah, yeah."_  
He wasn't sure what to do. He had nowhere to go. No orders. None that he was able to complete.  
He had been so certain that Captain America would be easy. She wasn't supposed to be any harder than the Valdez's or Director Grace. They were simple. Fast. This wasn't supposed to be some revelation.  
He didn't have memories. He wasn't this Perseus she spoke of. But her words stuck and snagged something in his brain. He just couldn't figure out what it was.  
_"Oh sh- Are you okay? What happened?" He dragged Annabeth into his apartment and sat her down at the table."_  
_"Nothing," she mumbled. Her voice was hoarse._  
_He grabbed a cloth and started to wipe down her face._  
_A bruise was beginning to appear across her right cheek. Her right eye was swollen shut. Her lip was split and her face was streaked with tears. Her hair was a mess and her clothes were torn._  
_"Who did this?" he asked._  
_She shook her head._  
_He grabbed her hands and squeezed them. "Who, Annabeth? Who did this to you?"_  
_"I don't know," she whispered. "He came up behind me and he..." She pulled her hands away from him and held them close to her body._  
_He clenched his jaw. "I'm going to get ice," he said, standing up quickly._  
He woke up and grabbed his metal arm. The metal seemed to freeze his hand as he covered that red star. He found himself scratching at it, trying to get it to chip off. He didn't know why.  
That star, that damn red star, was part of his identity. It showed who he was. Who his superiors were. Sure, his metal arm was too, but there are others with metal arms. The star was special. It was like a marking. A sign that said someone out there had claimed him.  
And he wouldn't be anything without them.  
_She was curled up on the couch in a tight ball. She had white scratch marks on her arms._  
_It was times like this, when she looked young and small and innocent, that he felt an overwhelming urge to take her away from everything. To hold her close once they had left all their problems behind. To tell her that 'Everything will be okay, Annie, everything will be fine'. And maybe, if he was lucky, she would say something about not calling her Annie, that it wasn't her name, she wasn't a little kid. If not, he would hold her closer until she was okay._  
_He sat down next to her on the couch and touched her hand lightly._  
_She jerked away. She looked up at him with a terrified look in her eyes._  
_"Sorry," he said, holding out the ice. "I thought you might want this."_  
_She took it and held it to her lip. "I shouldn't have... Thanks. I didn't mean to bother you."_  
He spent most of his days trying to suppress emotions.  
He didn't like them. They made him...feel. And it was weird. It was strange and uncomfortable and he _didn't like it._  
He also found that he had to suppress memories.  
That was wrong. He wasn't supposed to have memories. He was just a machine. Just a machine. He was nothing more than what his superiors made him. His only purpose in life was to do their bidding.  
This wasn't supposed to be happening.  
Sometimes a memory would be pleasant, but it was so unnatural, so foreign and out of place, that he would shove it to the back of his mind. He didn't want to deal with it. He didn't want to deal with Annabeth Chase and a strange woman standing in a kitchen laughing. He didn't know Captain America when she was ten.  
He wanted to make it all stop. He wanted to destroy all of these emotions. They made him feel weak and pathetic and-  
They made him think. They made him wonder about the people who gave him orders. And he couldn't wonder. He was their loyal toy soldier.  
_He tried to hold back his anger as they sat on the couch, him in one corner, her in the other. _  
_He didn't tell her how angry he had gotten when he'd gotten the ice. He didn't tell her how he wanted to hunt down whoever had done this to her and kill them. He didn't tell tell her that he had almost punched the wall._  
_After about ten minutes, he couldn't stand the silence._  
_"Annabeth," he said softly._  
_She lowered the ice from her mouth. "Yeah?"_  
_"Are you okay?"_  
_"I'm fine, Percy, honestly." She looked away quickly._  
_"Did... Did he-"_  
_"No."_  
_He didn't want to doubt her. But he knew her, and she had answered too fast._  
_"Anni- Annabeth, you're only thirteen. How could this-"_  
_"Do you think it matters?" she snapped. "Do you think he cared?"_  
_He moved closer to her. "That's not what I meant."_  
_"But do you?" She forced a laugh. "I'm already so powerless and he needed to make me feel even worse." Her lip trembled. "I-I feel...disgusting and horrible and sick and-and..." She turned away as her eyes overflowed._  
_He touched her arm, and when she didn't pull away, he pulled her into a tight hug._  
_She buried her face in the crook of his neck and cried._  
_As he smoothed her hair and told her that it'd be okay, he realized how tiny she was. She was so fragile. If he squeezed too tight, he might break her._  
There was one memory. One memory that, despite all his efforts, would not go away. It would reappear at random times and stay for hours.  
He walked down the street with Annabeth Chase. She was smaller and thinner, slower and weaker. She had the same look in her eyes that made it seem like she was figuring out exactly what made you tick. She was rambling on about structural support or something, a topic that he wasn't sure where she had learned about, because it certainly wasn't taught in the shoddy public school they attended.  
A group of boys walked by and one whistled. He instinctively threw his arm over her shoulder and glared at him. As soon as they were gone, she pulled away. She told him that she didn't need his protection. Then she yelled at a man who stopped a girl on the street.  
He wasn't sure why that memory was so clear. He couldn't even tell if it was a memory or if it had been implanted in his brain. He couldn't figure out the importance.  
But something was clear, at some point, he, or someone else, had protected Annabeth Chase, despite her protests.  
So maybe it relieved an itch in the back of his mind. This weird feeling, another one that he disliked greatly, that he was supposed to go protect her. The feeling that had made him freeze when she had said, "as long as we're together", the one that made him drag her out of the water.  
He really hated feelings.


	4. RED

"At ease, soldier."

Black cars pulled up around her and she spun towards the voice.

A woman in a long black coat walked up to her. "Look, I'm sorry about that whole thing back there but we thought it be best to break it to you slowly."

Annabeth broke her gaze and looked back towards the buildings. The cars. The screens. None of this was possible. And she'd seen HYDRA technology. "Break what?" she demanded, making eye contact with the woman.

She stared at her for a moment, like she was weighing the pros and cons of the situation. "You've been asleep, Cap. For almost seventy years."

She looked away quickly. That couldn't be right. It was scientifically impossible. She was dead. She had to be dead.

The noises were loud and the warm air was almost stifling. She took a deep breath and turned around slowly.

"You going to be okay?"

"Yeah," she said after a moment. "Yeah, I just- I had a date."

_"Dr. Chiron said that the serum wouldn't just affect my muscles, it would affect my cells. Create a protective system of regeneration and healing. Which means I can't get drunk. Did you know that?" she asked, not even looking up from her glass.  
_

_"Your metabolism burns four times faster than the average person. He thought it could be one of the side effects." Rachel sat down across from her.  
_

_Annabeth sighed and looked away.  
_

_"It wasn't your fault."  
_

_She scowled. "Did you read the report?"  
_

_"Yes."  
_

_She nodded. "Then you know it's not true."  
_

_"You did everything you could." Rachel sighed when Annabeth wouldn't meet her eyes. "Did you believe in your friend? Did you respect him?"  
_

_Annabeth looked up slowly.  
_

_"Then stop blaming yourself. Allow Jackson the dignity of his choice. He damn well must have thought it was worth it."  
_

_"I'm going after Castellan." She clenched her fist under the table. "I'm not going to stop until all of HYDRA is dead or captured."  
_

_"Fine. Let's destroy them. But let's do this rationally. Let's think it through and come up with something that will work." Rachel leaned closer. "Annabeth? We will help. You won't _ _be alone."_

She spends almost all her time reading or working out. Director Grace shakes her head and calls her crazy each time she asks for more files to look at, insisting that she can't catch up on seventy years of history, but doesn't deny her access to most of them. There are some that she's not allowed to look at, and even fewer that she isn't even allowed to breath in the direction of.

Working out helps her clear her mind. It makes her focus on things other than...everything. She doesn't want to think. She wants to read files and sweat.

She was less than thrilled when an agent pulled her out of the gym, but finally learning about SHIELD was worth it. Finding out what the acronym stood for was definitely worth it. It had been bugging her.

She was sitting on her bed reading about the Civil Rights Movement when there was a knock at the door.

She was brought to Director Grace and Agent Ramirez. Agent McLean eyed her as she walked by.

"All settled in, Cap?" Grace asked.

Annabeth nodded. "Yeah. Thanks."

"How are you?"

"Fine."

"Hm."

Annabeth watched Grace impatiently. She obviously wasn't here for small talk. She needed to know what was going on.

Agent Ramirez studied her for a minute before speaking up. "How are you adjusting?"

"As well as I can," she admitted.

"I heard you've been trying to catch up on what happened during the seventy years you were on ice."

"Yeah, I have. Is that a problem?"

Ramirez crossed her arms. "Has anyone introduced you to the internet?"

Grace rolled her eyes. "Now's not the time, Ramirez."

"It'd be a hell of a lot faster than reading through all the files here. We don't need half of them anymore, and all the important stuff has been uploaded to the digital database."

Annabeth watched them exchange a glance. She couldn't interpret it, but something had been decided.

"Maybe later, we've got something else to discuss."

She braced herself for some sort of blow.

"Why are you looking up all these damn movements?"

Annabeth frowned. She hadn't expected that. "Ma'am?"

Ramirez held up a list. "Woman's Sufferage Movement, Gay Rights Movement, Labor Movements, Femisist Movement, Hippies-"

"Freaking hippies," Grace muttered.

"Workers' Rights Movements, Civil Rights Movements."

She wasn't sure how to answer. "I- They're important. They're...they're about what the people want."

"Fine. As long as you don't go joining rallies and parades until I give the okay, do whatever you want with the damn movements."

"Yes ma'am."

"And Chase."

"Yes?"

"You've gotta take care of yourself."

She hesitated. "I am."

Ramirez raised an eyebrow.

"Sure you are. Not sleeping, reading everything you can get your hands on, and working your ass off is really taking care of yourself. You're hardly eating and you've slept less than twelve hours in the past week and a half."

"I can run on next to nothing," she insisted. "I've done it before."

"Yeah, but it sure as hell isn't healthy. Cap, we aren't at war anymore. You don't need to push yourself so hard."

Annabeth squeezed her hand into a fist. "But-"

"You know how when people are working out someone always says it won't kill you?"

She nodded slowly.

"It might actually kill you."

_Rachel and Percy sat down on opposite sides of Annabeth in an almost syncronized way. _

_She looked at both of them and put down her mug with a sigh. "What? What did I do now?"_

_"Nothing," Rachel insisted._

_Annabeth turned to Percy with a raised eyebrow. He looked away quickly._

_"Did you guys do something?"_

_The rest of the Howling Commandos burst into the room singing happy birthday at the top of their lungs. Annabeth glared at Percy, who laughed and threw an arm over her shoulder._

_"I hate you two," she muttered under her breath as everyone continued to sing off-key. But she couldn't help but smile a little when Will grabbed her arm and started to swing her _ _around the room, before handing her off to someone else._

_ By the time she got to Percy, she was breathless and laughing a little more than she originally wanted to._

_She hit him on the arm lightly. "I told you not to do anything."_

_Percy rolled his eyes. "This isn't anything. It doesn't take any effort to sing a terrible rendition of happy birthday."_

_Rachel grabbed Annabeth's arm and pulled her into a hug. "You are so lucky that your birthday came up in our conversation yesterday."_

_"Lucky?"_

_Rachel laughed._

Before McLean left the next day, she threw Annabeth a folder.

"What's this?"

"I read your file," she said. "You might want to read that one next. Printed it off the digital database for you. Figured you haven't figured it out yet."

Annabeth stared at the yellow cover of the folder. "How did you-"

"Chase, I'm a spy." She gave her a cold smile and disappeared into a room.

Annabeth wandered back to her room and opened the folder as soon as the door shut.

'NAME: RACHEL ELIZABETH DARE  
FOUNDER OF SHIELD  
STATUS:RETIRED  
CLASSIFIED: EYES ONLY  
DO NOT DUPLICATE  
OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR  
RESTRICTED ACCESS: LEVEL 9  
S.H.I.E.L.D. PERSONNEL FILE'

There was so much information about Rachel. There was everything that happened to her in the war, and apparently, everything that happened after.

"'Founder of SHIELD,'" she whispered again. Rachel always said she was going to do something great. Something bold, something different. Something that would make the world better and safer.

She surprised herself by laughing out loud. The ridiculous acronym finally made sense.


	5. Sick Days

He was sick.

He wasn't sick physically, although he was a disaster emotionally, physically, and mentally.

He was sick of everything.

He started hiding as far into the forest as he could, as far away from other humans as possible.

Memories returned in cold and hot flashes, jolts, dreams. They would come to him if stepped on a branch or if the sun shined through the leaves at just the right angle.

And it hurt.

It hurt _so much._

He'd rather die. He wanted to die. He wanted to kill himself right then and there. But he couldn't. That would be against orders. He wasn't allowed to hurt himself.

_Annabeth sneezed so hard she almost fell off the couch._

_"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked, reaching for the door._

_She waved her hand as she braced herself for another sneeze. "Achoo!"_

_"Bless you."_

_"Tanks. _Go._"_

_He didn't like leaving her alone when she was sick, but at least it was just allergies at the moment. She had one of the weakest immune systems ever. It was a miracle she'd  
survived childhood. _

_Thank god she had. _

_He didn't know what he'd do without her. She dragged him into fights and got him in trouble, but she was the best thing to ever happen to him._

Memories returned with screams of terror.

He kept retreating further away. He couldn't be found.

He would suddenly remember bursts of pain or fear, and he wouldn't be able to hold the screams back.

He was lucky no one had come investigating yet.

All they'd find was a wanted assassin and many damaged trees.

He could feel someone cutting him open and digging around his insides. He screamed and flailed. He tripped over a tree root and fell to the ground.

_Annabeth was curled up on his couch again. It wasn't her fault her immune system was terrible._

_"Sorry," she whispered as he wrapped her in another blanket._

_"Has this ever been a problem?" he asked. _

_"You really don't have to take care of me, Percy. I'm fine." _

_"Says the girl with a fever."_

_She frowned. "Am I really that hot? It's really cold."_

_"Exactly."_

_"Oh."_

_He had noticed over the years that sick Annabeth did a lot less thinking than healthy Annabeth. She had less of a filter, she didn't think things through, and she definitely wasn't as  
smart. Healthy Annabeth was sharper than a knife. Sick Annabeth was like a teddy bear. _

_She didn't even have the energy to glare, she was just too tired. _

_She groaned loudly and buried her head in her knees. "I feel like my skull is trying to split in half."_

_Percy rubbed her back and sighed. "I wish I could do something."_

_She sat up and shook her head. "No, it's fine. It's gone now."_

_He shook his head. Sick Annabeth might be even more stubborn than healthy Annabeth._

He woke up screaming.

He didn't stop until his voice was gone.

He stumbled to his feet and forced himself to breathe somewhat normally.

He needed food and water.

When was the last time-

The world dipped forward.

It had been a long time.

He made his way to a store. He grabbed some food and left, ignoring the shouting cashier running behind him, rolling his eyes at the fact that they had no type of security system  
whatsoever.

He kept his metal hand in his pocket. It made him less noticeable and got the useless prosthetic out of the way. He'd fix it himself, but he didn't know how. He never needed to.  
Someone else always did it.

They would fix it as other roughly patched him up before putting him away again.

He winced as a memory of getting closed in the cryogenic freezer. The light got smaller and smaller as the door closed. And he would start to scream.

He looked around and swallowed the scream he felt building up in his throat. He ducked into the forest and ran as fast as he could before the screaming began again.

_Annabeth shrieked as Percy dove at her from the other side of the couch. She rolled off of it and landed on the floor with a thud. Percy laughed as she glared. She stood up  
and shoved him, not moving him much, but moving him far enough away so she could sit down again. _

_They sat in silence for a minute before Annabeth smirked. She leaned over and started tickling his stomach. He yelled and jerked away, falling to the floor and landing on his back. _

_"That's definitely against the rules," he said once he had caught his breath, sitting up slowly and rubbing the back of his neck. _

_"Rules?" she asked innocently. "What rules?"_

_He grabbed her arm and yanked her to the floor. They ended up in a laughing, tangled pile of limbs._

_"What are you doing?"_

_They pulled themselves apart and stood up quickly. _

_"Nothing," Percy said with a smile._

_His mother raised an eyebrow but couldn't hide a small smile. "Aren't you sick, Annabeth?"_

_"It's just a little cold, I'm fine," Annabeth insisted. "But thanks for asking, Sally."_

_"Are you staying for dinner?_

_Annabeth looked over at Percy who nodded. "Yeah, if that's okay."_

_"Does your father know?"_

_"Uh-"_

_"We need to go do homework!" Percy interrupted._

_"But I already-"_

_"Good you can help me with mine." Percy dragged her into the other room, shooting his mom a smile._

He was not okay.

He felt like his mind was constantly getting torn apart. He was having trouble figuring out what was real and what wasn't. He didn't know what was happening. He hadn't gotten sleep in days.

He needed help. He didn't want to admit it, and he didn't have anywhere to go, but he needed it. His arm was useless, he could barely stand up, and he was slowly starving.

Had it really only been a week since he dragged Captain Chase out of the water?

_'As long as we're together._

He punched a tree.

_Annabeth was sicker than usual. _

_She couldn't sit up and would've fallen over when she got out of bed if Percy hadn't caught her. _

_His mom kept insisting she go get looked at, but Annabeth always said she was fine. _

_"Besides," she told Percy when his mom had left the room, "I couldn't afford it."_

_She stayed at his apartment instead of her own. Her stepmother was paranoid that she was getting Bobby and Matthew sick. It was better to stay on Percy's couch than to get  
yelled at every time she sneezed. _

_When Percy got back from school, he found her curled up in a ball, wrapped tightly in a worn blanket._

_He felt her forehead and she opened her eyes slowly. _

_"Hi," she mumbled._

_"You're really hot."_

_"Mmm." She reached out from under the blanket and picked up a glass of water._

_Percy watched the water shake. "Are you shivering? Are you cold."_

_"'m fine." She took a slow sip, her knuckles turning white._

_He took the glass from her when she lowered it and put it on the table. "Come on." He picked her up and carried her to his room. _

_"Wha a you doin'?" she asked. _

_He could feel her shaking. "Just lay down in my bed."_

_"No." She tried to wiggle out of his arms, but he held onto her tightly. "Your bed, not mine."_

_"I've got a thicker blanket."_

_"'m fine!"_

_Percy put her down on the bed and covered her with his blanket. He let out a sigh of relief when Annabeth didn't protest anymore. She just pulled the blanket up more and curled  
back up in a ball._

He lay on his back and stared up at the sky. He couldn't see the stars, but something in his mind told them they were there.

Orion, Ursa Major and Minor, Hercules, Andromeda, Columba, Lynx...

He felt like he had laid outside with someone and just named the constellations once, but he couldn't remember.

He didn't want to remember, it hurt too much to remember.

His head was still ringing from the last memory, the last scream, the last punch. He swallowed hard. He couldn't even find the energy to sit up, how was he going to survive?

No one knew where he was. As far as he knew, no one was looking for him. Was he just supposed to lay there and die?

_"Don', you'll ge sick," Annabeth protested when Percy sat next to her._

_"Hey, don't worry about me. I'm fine."_

_She rolled over to look him in the eye and frowned. "Bu I might've gotten Bobby n Maffew sick."_

_"I checked up on them yesterday, they're fine."_

_She scowled and rolled over again. _

_"Are you okay?"_

_"I don' feel good, if that's wha you're askin'."_

_"Sorry I can't do anything."_

_"'s fine. My head jus really hurs."_

_Percy wrapped his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. "It'll be okay, Annabeth. You'll get better soon."_

He squeezed his eyes shut. He felt like his mind was getting ripped apart.

He felt a hand smooth his hair and opened his eyes slowly to look around.

It was too dark to see, but he couldn't hear anyone else breathing.

He shut his eyes again.

The hand returned. "It's okay, Percy. You can rest. You're safe here."


	6. Difficulties

Guest: I went back and reposted everything. I had no idea that it looked like that and it definitely didn't look like that when I went to post it. Sorry! I hope it's better now. And thank you for letting me know!

Also, to be honest, this chapter is completely all over the place. The memory doesn't really have anything to do with anything, and there are only two short ones which is weird... Also, this might be shorter...

* * *

I don't know, I just needed to write this part. It's pretty bad. I promise next chapter will be better.

Someone kept knocking at Annabeth's door.

She had told them one minute several times. She just wanted to finish this one-

"Chase, why aren't you opening your door?"

Annabeth kept reading. "Well I don't see why I would do that now, you've already opened it."

McLean rolled her eyes. "You're ridiculous."

"Is this important, McLean? Or can I go back to learning about the Cold War?"

"Agent Ramirez needs to talk to you."

"I'll go see her."

"Now."

Annabeth lowered the folder a few inches. "I'm coming just-"

McLean yanked the folder from her hands. "Trust me, you do not want to be on Ramirez's bad side. Go."

_"Gentlemen," her gaze ran down the line and landed on Annabeth, "and woman, I'm Agent Dare. I supervise all operations for this division." She walked down the line eyeing each soldier._

_"Dare? What's the spoiled brat princess doing here?"_

_She stopped and turned to look at him. "What did you say your name was?"_

_"Gilmore Hodge, your majesty."_

_"Step forward, Hodge. Put your right foot forward."_

_He smirked. "We gonna wrassle? 'Cause I got a few moves I know you'll like."_

_She smiled and punched him in the face._

_Annabeth could barely hold back a laugh, and her smile slipped through as Hodge sat on the ground and held a hand to his cheek._

"You wanted to see me?"

Ramirez looked up from a computer. "Just checking in on you. How are you?"

"Fine." Ramirez wasn't interested in her. She never was. She was in charge of keeping everything running. She had more important things to do other than talk to a 95 year old super soldier about her personal life.

They stared at each other in silence.

"Can I go?"

Ramirez nodded. "She was very proud of you," she added as Annabeth turned away.

"Who?"

"Agent Dare." She rolled her eyes. "Don't give me that look. I know McLean gave her file. She didn't cover her tracks nearly as well as she does when she's on a mission. Personally, I think she was rushed."

"Oh."

"Director Grace, I, DiAngelo, and some others are leaving tomorrow. We're going to- Well, we'll be leaving, and McLean left after she went to get you. Will you be okay by yourself?"

"I'll be fine. I don't need to be watched."

"Good. We-"

"I won't leave. I won't endanger anyone."

"Captain Chase, I didn't mean that."

"I read between the lines."

_Annabeth tried to keep up, but she couldn't. Running was in no way her forte._

_"Pick up the pace ladies!" Dionysis yelled._

_Annabeth gritted her teeth and tried to go faster._

_"Let's go! Let's go! Double time! Come on, faster, faster! Move! Move! Squad hault!"_

_They stopped in front of a flag pole. Annabeth stumbled in behind them._

_"That flag," he pointed, "means we're only at the halfway point."_

_She put her hands on her knees and tried to get control of her breathing._

_"First man to get it to me, gets a ride back with Agent Dare. Move move!"_

_Everyone ran over, trying to climb it as others pulled them down._

_"Come on! Get up there! If that's all you've got, this army's in trouble. Get up there, Hodge!" he yelled as Hodge stepped on someone's head._

_Annabeth watched off to the side._

_All the men stepped away from the flagpole as Hodge climbed._

_"Come on! Get up there!"_

_Hodge slid to the ground and everyone jumped to the flagpole again._

_"No one's gotten that flag in seventeen years! Now fall back into line! Come on, fall in! Let's go, get back into formation."_

_Annabeth walked up to the flagpole, still catching her breath._

_"Chase! I said fall in!"_

_She looked down and rolled her eyes as she pulled the pin out of the flagpole. It fell to the ground with a clatter._

_Agent Dare tried to hide a smile._

_Annabeth picked up the flag and handed it to Dionysus. "Thank you, sir," she said as she climbed into the jeep._

_Agent Dare looked back and her and shook her head, laughing softly to herself._

"Chase!"

"Do you ever knock?"

McLean shrugged and opened the door completely. "You haven't met DiAngelo yet, have you?"

Annabeth shook her head. "I haven't met a lot of people."

"Come with me. If there's anyone here you should meet, it's Nico."

McLean practically dragged her to a training room in the basement.

A man stood with his back facing them and a bow and arrow drawn.

"Nico!" McLean said loudly.

He didn't move.

She walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

He swung around and released the arrow.

McLean stepped to the right and let it fly past her.

He lowered his bow. "Sorry. I didn't hear you come in."

"I didn't expect you to." She motioned to Annabeth. "This is Captain Annabeth Chase, she's been here for almost a week. Captain, this is Nico DiAngelo."

"Nice to meet you." She offered her hand and he shook it. She noticed he was looking at her lips.

"It's nice to finally meet you. I've heard a lot about you."

"Were you briefed? Or did this Agent Levesque tell you about me?"

DiAngelo frowned. "You've met Hazel? I thought she was in New Mexico."

"I haven't met her. I've just heard about her."

"Levesque isn't supposed to get back for a few weeks," McLean added. She was talking slower than usual.

He nodded slowly. He motioned with his hands and McLean quickly replied.

It clicked, and suddenly Annabeth felt like an idiot.

McLean signed something and DiAngelo shook his head. She sighed.

"Put them in!" she said while signing.

He groaned and threw his bow at her. She snatched it out of the air and glared.

"If you don't put them in, I will."

He narrowed his eyes before turning away and leaving the training room.

McLean sighed and started putting away his bow. "He's 80% deaf."

"I didn't-"

"You were wondering. I could almost see the gears in your brain working. Sorry about his attitude but," she nodded towards the door, "that's Hawkeye."

"Hawkeye? Is that his codename?"

"It's like how you're Captain America."

"Do you have one?"

She smiled coldly. "Black Widow."


	7. Always the Fighter

I'm sorry if Frank and Hazel are ooc, and I'm sorry if the direct dialogue is stiff. I'm working on it. Promise.

* * *

"You should have left it at the bottom of the ocean."

It was hard enough to try and get her head out of the past without the past coming back to haunt her.

H.Y.D.R.A. had been able to create terrifying weapons. And that was in the _40s_. What would people be able to do now? What would this Octavian person be able to do?

Every time she closed her eyes, she saw another man being shot down by a Tesseract fueled weapon. She saw Castellan pull off his mask. She saw tanks and planes blow up. Scattered body parts. Blood. So much blood.

She dropped her bags and stared at the debriefing package. She weighed her options. She could delve into her past and help others, or she could continue to move on and throw it away.

_Percy stared at her with narrowed eyes. "You're sure about this?"_

_"I'm always sure."_

_"This is seems like a terrible plan."_

_"I know what I'm doing."_

_He held up his hand in surrender. "I'm not saying you don't. I'm just saying it might be a little risky."_

_She smiled and leaned on her arms. "When has Perseus Jackson ever backed out because something was 'risky'?"_

_He shrugged. "I never said I was backing out. I was simply acknowledging the extreme risk we have going in."_

_"Obviously."_

_"How much you want to bet I can do more damage?" he asked, his eyes twinkling._

"So this Dr. Zhang was trying to replicate the serum that was used on me?" she asked.

Agent Levesque nodded. "A lot of people were. You were the world's first superhero."

Right. The first. And now she was back. No pressure or anything.

"Zhang thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula."

Annabeth frowned. Gamma radiation? "Didn't really go his way, did it?"

"Not so much. When he's himself, he's like a Stephen Hawking." Levesque must've realized she had no idea what she was talking about. "He's like a smart person," she clarified.

She nodded and looked back down at the file.

"I have to say, it's an honor to meet you, officially. I sort of met you, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping."

Annabeth forced a smile.

"I mean, I was...I was present while you were unconscious from the ice."

Annabeth stood up and lead against the wall. She hoped she didn't seem too rude. She just couldn't sit still with the thought of the Tesseract in the hands of anyone.

Levesque turned to face her. "You know, it's really, it's just a...just a huge honor to have you board this..." She trailed off.

Annabeth knew she was avoiding the word war.

_Percy dragged her away every time it was mentioned in a conversation. He'd grab her arm and say, "You know what, we have somewhere to be. Sorry!" And she was getting annoyed._

_"Hey," she snapped, pulling her back. "What was that?"_

_"What? What was what?"_

_"Why don't you want me talking about the war?"_

_He scratched the back of his neck. "No idea what you're talking about."_

_"Percy!"_

_"Yeah?"_

_She sighed. "I can do what I want, and talk about what I want. And if I want to talk about the war-"_

_"Maybe we should change the subject?"_

_"Okay, seriously? What is wrong with you?"_

_"Nothing! I just don't want you doing something stupid!"_

_"Like what?"_

_"I don't know, Annabeth, like trying to join the army?"_

_Her breath caught in her throat. "I..."_

_"Seriously, Annabeth! What were you thinking?"_

_"That I might as well try! Because trying is better than sitting around and doing nothing while men are giving their lives!"_

_Percy ran his fingers through his hair. "Annabeth, you're sick. You've always been sick."_

_"Fine. But not talking about the war isn't going to stop it from happening, Percy. So leave me alone."_

"I hope I'm the one for the job."

Levesque nodded eagerly. "Oh, you are. Absolutely."

Annabeth looked away. How would she know?

"We made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "The uniform? Aren't the stars and stripes a little...old fashioned?"

"With everything that's happened, and the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old fashioned."

Old fashioned. It was hard to forget that seventy years had passed, but at the same time, it was too easy. Her body felt like she had just taken a nap, but her brain told her that she'd been asleep. It wasn't just the uniform that was old fashioned, everything about her was old fashioned.

"Stow the captain's gear," Levesque said as they exited the plane.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Agent McLean, Captain Chase."

McLean nodded to Annabeth.

"Ma'am," Annabeth said. The formalities were strange. But they were working together now, they weren't just living in the same building.*

"Hi." She turned to Levesque. "They need you on the bridge. They're starting the face-trace."

Levesque smiled. "See you there."

"It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Levesque was gonna swoon." Annabeth was surprised to see a real, genuine smile on McLean's face. "Did she ask you to sign her Captain America trading cards yet?"

"Trading cards?" Annabeth asked. Those were a thing? They made those? Why did they make those?

She nodded. "They're vintage. She's very proud."

"Dr. Zhang," Annabeth said, recognizing him from the debriefing case.

He looked away from the side of the helicarrier. "Oh, yeah. Hi. They told me you'd be coming." He held out his hand for her to shake.

She shook it. "Word is you can find the cube."

Dr. Zhang looked away. "Is that the only word on me?"

"Only one I care about," she promised.

"Must be strange for you, all of this." He changed the subject almost too quickly.

"Well," she looked around at the marching agents and everyone running around, "this is actually kind of familiar."

McLean stepped forward. "You may wanna step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breathe."

A voice came over the PA. "Flight crew, secure the deck."

"Is this a submarine?"

"Really?" Zhang asked. He sounded nervous. "They want _me_ in a submerged, pressurized, metal container?"

They walked up to the edge to see turbines rise above the water and power up.

Zhang forced a laugh. "No, no. This is much worse."

_Annabeth didn't remember much about her mother._

_Her mother left when she was five, but she had few memories and they were fading fast._

_"You're a fighter, Annabeth. Never forget that."_

_Her mother had said that the say she left. It was the last thing she had said to Annabeth. It was the brightest memory, though it had faded edges._

_"You think you're a fighter, don't you?" Aiden asked as Annabeth stood in front of a girl who was inches taller than her. "News flash, girls don't fight."_

_She struck what she hoped was a fighting position and promised herself that she'd defend Juniper with her life._

_"You wouldn't punch a girl," Juniper said loudly, crossing her arms._

_Aiden would._

_"Hey!"_

_Juniper helped Annabeth up from the ground. "Are you okay?"_

_Annabeth nodded. "Yeah." Her knees stung and she could taste blood._

_She looked up to see a boy she recognized from school standing in front of them._

_"Was that really necessary?"_

_Aiden rolled his eyes. "She got in my way."_

_"You know, you could've just stepped around her." The boy put up his fists. "Or you could fight someone your own size."_

_Aiden laughed. "You're my size? You're like, ten."_

_The boy kicked him in the crotch and Aiden fell to the ground. He grabbed their hands and dragged them down the street as Aiden groaned._

_He skidded to a stop at a street corner and dropped there hands. He ran his finger through his hair. "Are you okay?"_

_Juniper took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes, thank you. I'm Juniper."_

_"Percy."_

_They looked to Annabeth. She panted and held up a hand to signal that she was okay._

_"Um, are you okay... What's her name?"_

_"Annabeth?" Juniper asked._

_"Yeah. Fine," she wheezed during breaths. "Just...asthma..."_

_Percy had to drag her to his apartment with a bloody nose and a black eye the next week. His mother saw the bloody cloths and nearly had a heart attack._

_"You're a fighter, aren't you?" she asked Annabeth as she tried to get the blood out of her shirt._

_Each time she got a black eye, a punch in the gut, a slap across the cheek, she reminded herself that. She was a fighter. She had made a promise, a promise to protect others with her life, when she was ten. And she was going to keep her promise._

_That's what she told herself as she took Dr. Chiron's offer. It was dangerous and risky, but it was her only chance._


	8. From Another World

She lay on her back, stared at the ceiling, and thought about being afraid.

"Was it scary? Crashing the plane into the arctic?" that agent had asked.

"No."

Now that she thought about it, it really hadn't been.

The thought of dying was scary. Crashing the plane was necessary. It wasn't scary. It was...easy.

Asthma attacks were scary. War was scary. Opening your eyes and everything being different colors was scary. Having scarlet fever was scary. Not being able to find food was scary. Getting attacked from behind was scary. Struggling to fight the man was scary. Kicking him was scary. Running through the streets and somehow ending up at Percy's was scary. Percy being captured was scary. Percy falling from the train wasn't scary.

It wasn't even terrifying. It was a nightmare that became reality. It was too heart shattering to be scary.

But crashing the plane wasn't scary. In comparison, it was pretty calming. Not that she'd want to do it again.

Was McLean scared? She had a cold smile and a murderous glint in her eyes when ever DiAngelo was mentioned. They were partners. They were friends. And now he was...compromised.

According to Grace, him, a scientist, and several SHIELD agents were compromised. Under Octavian's control.

She didn't understand how that was possible. But apparently he was a god. Or something. And he'd been a threat before. He had powers, magic powers. He was a Trickster. She had seen the file.

There was a knock on the door. She was needed.

_Something was different about Percy. Maybe it was the war, maybe it was something else._

_She could tell he still wasn't used to the new her. The way he looked at her sometimes. The way that he still made her go up the stairs first, the way he watched how she walked and listened to her breathing. How he would start to describe things in detail before trailing off and saying, "it's that green one". He still stood on her left when they talked but moved to her right when they went into combat. When winter came around, he started to comment on how it was weird that she wasn't getting sick, before stopping and walking away. _

_She told herself she wasn't different, because she wasn't. She was the same person, just healthier. Stronger. Why couldn't Percy see that? The idiot still tried to protect her when she could protect him better. Why was he seeing this as a bad thing?_

Agent Levesque flushed. "I-I mean, if it's not too much trouble."

"No, no," Annabeth insisted. "It's fine."

Her face lit up. "It's a vintage set. It took me a couple of years to collect them all. Near mint. Slight foxing around the edges, but..."

"We got a hit. 67% match. Wait. Cross match, 79%," an agent said.

"Location?" Levesque asked.

Annabeth was impressed by how fast she could go from talking about something personal that she was really proud of to hunting down a murderer. The transition to business was instant and smooth, like it was something she had done for years. She probably had. Annabeth had never been that good at separating her 'job' from her personal life. They were the same thing. Levesque was lucky.

"Stuttgart, Germany. 28 Konigstrasse."

"He's not exactly hiding," someone noted.

So he wanted to be found? Why would he want to be found? There was a reason, she just had to figure it out.

"You're up, Captain," Fury said.

She would figure it out once she got to Germany. But now she had to go back to being Captain America.

_Percy rolled his eyes. "It's not that bad."_

_Annabeth frowned and examined his bruises. "Uh, no. It looks pretty bad."_

_"Not that bad."_

_"Pretty bad."_

_"I look better than you usually do."_

_She gave him a look of disgust. "What did you even do? Don't you always say that I'm the one that gets you into trouble?"_

_"You know, that's still true," he said, lifting ice to his cheek. "But I never said that I don't get myself into trouble. You just get me into more trouble."_

_She decided to ignore him. "How did this happen?"_

_"Nothing."_

_"__What happened, Percy?_"

_"I was...uh...defending your honor."_

_She punched him in the arm. _

_"Hey! I don't need anymore bruises!" he complained._

_"Honestly, Percy, why would you defend 'my honor'? I can take care of myself!"_

_He dropped the ice on the table and stood up. "Well not when you're not there!"_

_She looked up at him and scowled. She hated how much taller than her he was. How come he got to be six feet tall while she was only five foot two? She didn't like to look up at people. She always had to look up at people. _

_She snatched the ice off the table and threw it at his chest. "Let me take care of it next time," she snapped. _

She watched Octavian and didn't know if she had felt this disgusted since she woke up. She knew he had said he was 'burdened with glorious purpose', but she was really really starting to hate him.

Agent McLean pushed some button so they could hear him from inside the plane.

"...joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."

Annabeth gritted her teeth.

An elderly man stood up. "Not to men like you."

Octavian laughed. "There are no men like me."

"There are always men like you."

"Time to go, Captain," McLean said.

Annabeth landed in front of the man and blocked the blast. She stood up and stared Octavian in the eye. "The last time I was in Germany, and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing."

Octavian looked unimpressed. "The soldier. The woman out of time."

She didn't realize she had a reputation gods knew about.

"I'm not the one who's out of time."

She noticed people behind her starting to stand. They had to run. All of them. Octavian had powers they couldn't even begin to understand.

McLean came on over the PA. "Octavian, drop the weapon and stand down."

Octavian pointed his scepter and fired blue energy at the ship- or at least, that's what Annabeth figured it was.

She threw her shield and hit him in the chest. The people around her were getting up and running away screaming. Good. It'd be easier to fight when she wasn't worrying about keeping them safe.

Annabeth ran up to Octavian and punched him in the jaw. He swung his scepter at her head, but she blocked it with her shield. He jabbed her in the stomach with the butt of his scepter. She flew backwards and rolled onto the ground. She rolled onto her knee and looked up slowly.

Out of practice. She was definitely out of practice.

She took a deep breath and threw her shield. Octavian knocked it aside as she jumped to her feet and ran forward to swing her arm at him. He dodged her punch and swung his scepter horizontally to knock her off her feet. She leaned back and caught herself on her hand before pushing herself up and punching him in the back.

She needed to get rid of his scepter. She no longer had her shield and it was giving him an- He swung around and hit her in the back with his scepter, sending her flying to the ground.

She tried to scramble to her feet, but Octavian held her down by holding the butt of his scepter on her helmet.

"Kneel," he hissed.

Annabeth grabbed the scepter and pushed it away. "Not today!" She jumped up and kicked him in the head.

He wrapped his arms around her and threw her.

Loud music started playing and Annabeth jerked away from it. She stared up at the ship and tried to figure out what was going on, but her brain was too busy trying to figure out if she had gotten hurt. It was hard to tell with all the pain she was feeling in her side.

Something came flying around a building and blasted Octavian in the chest.

Octavian fell back on the steps and the thing landed. The thing was a person. A person in a flying suit of armor. A flying suit of armor with lots and lots of weapons. It wasn't processing right in her mind.

"Make your move, Reindeer Games," the metal man said.

Annabeth scrambled to her feet and grabbed her shield.

Octavian's robes disappeared and were replaced by human clothes. He raised his hands in surrender.

The man's weapons folded up into his suit. "Good move."

Annabeth took a few deep breaths. At least she had figured out who the man was. "Mr. Valdez."

"Captain."

_Percy threw the newspaper onto the table. "Do you see it, Annabeth? This woman is creating the future!"_

_Annabeth rolled his eyes. "How much you want to bet she's a fraud?"_

_Percy smiled and leaned on the table. "I'll bet dinner that she's not."_

_She lowered her cup. "Excuse me?"_

_"Flying cars, Annabeth!"_

_"And you have the money to see one of these..." she picked up the newspaper. "What is it even? A show?"_

_Percy shrugged. "I don't know, but it looks incredible. I'll find a way to see it before..."_

_She didn't bother to look up. She already knew what his face looked like whenever he mentioned leaving for the war. She didn't need to see it again. _

_"So this Esperanza Valdez* is a genius of some sorts?"_

_Percy nodded and sat down across from her. "She founded Valdez Industries. Valdez Industries is practically in a different world! Are you telling me you _don't_ want to see this?"_

_"I'm not saying anything."_

_"You're giving me a look."_

_"I just-"_

_"Annabeth! Not only are there _flying cars_ but this is a woman who's done all of this! Don't you want to see at least that?"_

_She put down the newspaper. "Fine. If you can get tickets, I'll go."_


End file.
